Thursday, May 21, 2009

It's Meatless Thursday, as inspired by the first official Veggiedag (Meatless Day) in Ghent, Belgium.

As reported by the BBC, Tom Balthazar [mayor of Ghent, Belgium] has officially declared Thursday meatless in his city of nearly a quarter million people. In an effort to make the connection between meat consumption and greenhouse gases (18 percent of which come from livestock production), Balthazar has asked his fellow civil servants to abstain from meat every Thursday.

From Kim O'Donnelauthor of the Washington Post's Mighty Appetite blogShe recently began a MeatlessMonday column.

For the Veggiedag Thursdays to come, I'll be posting recipes, tales of my attempts at cooking, food news (meatless, of course), puzzled enquiries from meat-eaters, photos, and more.

Keeping with the 'good fermentables' aspect, I'll often inveigle beer or wine (or spirits) into the posts.

That Ghent is taking the lead in the movement toward reducing our carbon footprint by reducing meat consumption is quite incredible. Using this same idea of assigning one day of the week as a no meat day, Meatless Monday, a nonprofit health initiative with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of PUblic Health, encourages cutting meat consumption to reduce the risk of preventable dieases and our environmental impact.The Meatless Monday website has a wealth of information, from delicious meatless recipes, to cooking tips, and nutrition facts; it may serve as a good souce for your highly anticipated, upcoming posts on Veggiedag Thursdays!Check it out: www.meatlessmonday.com.